How not, to use a 6.5 creedmoor

[WisLRH]

I found this gem the other night. Didn't want to share it, but here it is! I really appreciate what my 6 & 6.5 Creedmoor's are, but this is not how or what they should be used on. If you've hunted long enough, you're gonna have a bad experience, but DAYUUUM!

I am glad this video is garnering so much considered debate here on our forum. It reaffirms our ethics of a clean, quick ethical harvest. While everyone makes mistakes. ALL of these mistakes were avoidable. This is EXACTLY the type of video proof anti hunter groups salivate for.

While I love my 6.5 Creedmoor, I would never take it after Elk at these distances. A 6.5 x 284 maybe? Even with a great bullet for this situation, like a partition bullet, I still would not take it. Elk are darn tough animals and the shooter CHOSE to use that cartridge long before he ever set foot at that camp. He knew he would take a long shot if offered. Unless it was edited out, which I doubt, there was zero mention of a single variable the entire time other than "600 yards". I always ask for exact yardage and a hell of a lot more if I have a spotter/guide. If I don't I take the time to figure out what they are as soon as I spot an animal let along looking for a bull. It takes so little time to do.

It is obvious that the shooter was not well versed in the process required for ethical long range hunting. Ethical hunting is only achieved through the self discipline of knowing when NOT to take a shot.

 

[WWP2012]

Shot placement is paramount. Where you hit them is more important than what you hit them with . I've never shot an elk but have heard of hunters consistently taking one with a .243 , .25 Robert's, 250/3000 etc .

Not true at all. It's where you hit them AND what you hit them with. I've shot 3 with a Creedmoor and I can personally tell you that a 140g accubond in the chest cavity at 200 yards was not enough to make a quick kill. It took out one lung and the back of another then ricocheted off a rib into back thru the liver into the guts. She dropped in 30 yards but she was still breathing and kicking when I got there 20 min later. I had to shoot her again. Under your theory the same shot with a .500 Nitro would make no difference.

Elk are tough, bring enough gun.

 

[bigngreen]

In our group 10-13 elk we're killed with 6.5 Creedmores or 6.5x284 last year, all with 140 Bergers, all one shot kills quickly with one round half way up behind the shoulder, big holes in the lungs.

 

[Barrelnut]

Agree this vid has educational value. For those on their first elk hunt and want to do it "long range", it definitely shows how things can go down. And they did retrieve the elk (main thing I guess). I just see too many of these vids of hunters mostly unprepared for what they are trying to accomplish. This hunters rifle looks like an off the shelf Ruger American with a Vortex HS LR on it. I would bet it is factory Hornady Precision Hunter ammo. Not saying that the rig could not be made capable, but I doubt much work was put into verifying it and practicing with it. The rifle just doesn't seem to match the cost of the hunt. That was a rifle hunt during the rut! That is a hard tag to get! The opportunity for a trophy bull was very high and he was successful, but just barely.
When I first started down the road of wanting to take, long range shots on game. I took flak from almost everyone I knew. When working on and setting up my long range rig at the range, shooters would ask about it. When they learned I setting it up for long range hunting, they would turn their back on me! Today long range hunting is much more accepted and everyone wants to play, but it takes practice if you expect to be successful in the field under pressure.
I shoot and practice a lot to be ready for a long range shot during the season, that probably won't really even happen. I work up my hand loads very carefully. My straightest and best prepared rounds are set aside for a possible hunting shot.
My last cow was one 517 yard shot with a 300 RUM. She took about three steps and was dead. Earlier in the day, I had taken two 800 yard practice shots at a rock just to verify and be sure the rifle and I were up to it. The actual shot was easy. No video, no one but me and the cow around. And I feel good about the whole thing.
Just wish the social media generation could slow down a bit. It's not about how much you can get on video and claim victory. It's more about what you did and how you did it.

 

[sp6x6]

On one of my long shots a grizz beat me to my bull,ran into him in alders at 40 yrds.He then hid my hind quarters on me when I got in next day for pack out.

 

[Winnie_64]

So many things wrong with that one...

 

[djfriesen]

I noticed the silhouette shot, but didn't comment. I didn't watch the entire video, but I think I got the gist of it.

I haven't hunted elk a lot, but I blew an opportunity last year as a result of insufficient trigger time leading up to the hunt. I consider myself fortunate that I didn't hit the animal at all, and have learned an important lesson about getting the right kind of time in during the off season, and selecting shots based on this level of proficiency.

I understand that things go poorly in the field sometimes. But I also would be unwilling to air that kind of dirty laundry in such a public way. If I had been in the shooter's place, I would have posted a nice trophy picture and been glad there was a short list of people that saw how it actually went down.

 

[BEEMAN]

Friend of mine shot a 5x5 bull this year at just under 300 yds. He shoots a 300 Win Mag. Was using blue box federal 180 gr I believe. Hit that bull perfect. Double lung broadside and gave him 20 minutes. Bull tried to get up and needed a finishing shot. After gutting it had two good sized holes in both lungs from his first shot. Amazing he was still alive after a double lung shot 20 minutes later.

 

[whirlwindjml]

The rest was his choice of cartridge. Is the CM accurate to 600 yards, yes in the right hands. Does it have enough energy to drop a Bull at 600 yards, maybe in the right hands with a well placed round.

A friend of mine swears by his 300 mag with 150 corloct bullet. However @ 600 yards THAT bullet has less energy than a creedmoor. So much more goes into the equation of enough gun. He has wounded more animals than i every have he uses a magnum. (I have one ill fess to with a 300 ultra and loose mount)

If the bullet opens up the desired amount and penetrates the desired amount then you have the energy you need. No uber mag has allowance for slop shooting what so ever. Ive seen to many magnums wound to believe other wise. If you can hit vitals and rupture them its a green lite. If you cant....get closer. Dont get a bigger gun and think you now you have a "super energy margin error buffer". Ive packed out a lot of elk and deer over last few years from 6.5s with factory eldx cartriges eventhough i own all the big stuff and handload. Do i let my kids shoot @ 400 with a creedmoor? No. And the same goes for muzzle brakes cannon. Theyre limits around 300 ifff the circumstances allow.

If Guy in the video was shooting at a cow elk i bet he would have been a lot calmer and things would have been a lot different. He probly would have hit it in the tail or toe instead of the dirt....

 

[Alibiiv]

How do you know, had he gone over the ridge they may have trucked right over there and got it done, your making assumptions. I've seen many elk hit like that with magnums much closer and had to stay on them till dead.

Bigngreen, I'm not assuming anything here! If read my reply it says "there's a good chance they wouldn't have recovered it"! They were 600 yards away when they made the shoot, they nor you know what was/is over that ridge! I don't even know the reason we're having this conversation, the point being made is that the situation went well due to the elk running at them instead of away from the hunters. If you think that there's a good chance of recovery on that entire shoot then by all means have at it. Remember that hunter had to finish that elk off with the Creedmore and a handgun. If that animal wasn't hit right, and it's apparent that it wasn't, what do you think the blood trail was going to be? So you say follow the tracks, it appears that there's lots of elks roaming that terrain, have you ever followed tracks of animal that you've wounded and it went onto a game trail used by many animals?? So yes there's a good chance they may not have ever seen that elk again if it had gone over that ridge instead of running at them!!!

 

[whirlwindjml]

So you say follow the tracks, it appears that there's lots of elks roaming that terrain, have you ever followed tracks of animal that you've wounded and it went onto a game trail used by many animals?? So yes there's a good chance they may not have ever seen that elk again if it had gone over that ridge instead of running at them!!!

That is a fact! Its a different thing when you get there and there 8k hoof prints because they have been there day after day. That same thing has made me close in how far i shoot at times. If its wet the blood trail goes away quickly too.

 

[bigngreen]

It would be the three legged bull track heading down hill away from all the other elk looking for a spot to stop. If you can't follow that you'd have a difficult time recovering elk in bow season!!

 

[whirlwindjml]

It would be the three legged bull track heading down hill away from all the other elk looking for a spot to stop. If you can't follow that you'd have a difficult time recovering elk in bow season!!

I guess just for butcheek dragmarks

 

[Randy Tidwell]

I've never shot an elk but have heard of hunters consistently taking one with a .243 , .25 Robert's, 250/3000 etc .

Not at 600 yards, not a smart shot!